Gurugram, February 2: A 3-year-old leopard and two 10-year-old hyenas were found dead under mysterious circumstances in a village in Sohna block of Gurugram on Tuesday. The carcasses of the animals were first spotted at the 'Saap Ki Nangli' village in Haryana. Both the forest and the police officials were immediately alerted. The carcasses were sent for autopsy.

"The carcasses of the female leopard and two male hyenas were found at three different locations in the Aravalli region which were just 500 metres away from the population area", forest officials said. Did Cow in Assam Cuddle a Leopard Cub? Here's a Fact as Old Images Go Viral Amid Lockdown.

"The bodies seem to be around eight days old. However, the actual cause of deaths would be ascertained only after an autopsy," said M.S. Malik, principal chief conservative officer, Forest Department.

Preliminary investigation suggests that the reason behind the deaths could be because of the consumption of some poisonous substances as there were no injuries mark on their bodies, said a forest official on requesting anonymity.

The police have received information from the villagers. "Soon after receiving information we reached the spot along with forest officials. They took the bodies of the animals and sent it for autopsy for further probe. However, there were no injury marks on their bodies. Further probe is underway," said Arvind Kumar, station house officer (SHO) of Sohna City police station.

"The distance between the bodies of both the hyenas was 30 to 40 feet, whereas the distance between the leopard carcasses from hyena was 250 metres," Malik said. However, the villagers claimed that around 5 dogs and 6 puppies have been found dead over the past one week.

"Apparently, it was beacuse of the deaths of hyenas and leopards that resulted in the spread of the disease in the area, which raises a threat to our pets too", said a villager. However, the forest officials have declined to make any comment on the issue.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 02, 2021 11:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).